Siemens links MindSphere to AWS, and says new industrial challenges can ‘only be resolved through digitalisation’

Research conducted by Siemens suggests that many of the new demands faced by industrial companies can only be met with increasing computerisation of traditional industry.

Siemens says increasing demands by consumers for individual, high-quality products at favourable prices are posing new challenges for industrial enterprises which can only be resolved by digitalisation.

Siemens, which offers a wide range of digitalisation solutions for industry, suggests it now has a portfolio – collectively called Digital Enterprise Suite – that conforms to Industry 4.0 expectations.

Speaking at the ongoing SPS IPC Drives event, Klaus Helmrich, member of the board at Siemens, says: “With the Digital Enterprise portfolio, the technical conditions have been created for Industry 4.0.

“To ensure successful implementation of Industry 4.0, what we now need is an extended model for cooperative partnership based on mutual respect: Large-scale corporations supply platforms and components, medium-sized enterprises develop their own solutions and business models on this basis, and end customers integrate these into their digital value chain.”

Siemens is showcasing a range of innovations at the SPS show designed to shorten the time to market and to improve flexibility, efficiency and quality in the process and manufacturing industries.

They range from the new Version 15 of the Engineering Framework TIA Portal through the IoT concept for motors Simotics IQ to the new Version 3.0 of the open cloud-based IoT operating system MindSphere.

Siemens is also offering financing services such as pay-per-use models designed to simplify the implementation of digital solutions, aimed in particular at medium-sized enterprises.

Siemens will be demonstrating digitalisation solutions at SPS which it says are already helping small and medium-sized enterprises to “boost their competitive standing today”.

Making this possible is the company’s Digital Enterprise offering, comprising solutions for the digital twin over the entire value chain, the open cloud-based IoT operating system MindSphere and the world’s leading automation portfolio.

Featured on the Siemens booth at the show is the new MindSphere Version 3.0.

Now available for the first time on Amazon Web Services, it links the global scalability of the leading Siemens automation portfolio with AWS, the leading provider of cloud services.

The new version features a more efficient development environment with an open Application Programming Interface, advanced analytics and extended connectivity, enabling the faster development of robust Industrial IoT solutions.

Also new is Version 15 of the Engineering-Framework TIA Portal (Totally Integrated Automation), with the focus on new practical digitalisation functions to shorten engineering times. These include the integration of handling functions and the connection and programming of robots.

With the introduction of Simotics IQ, Siemens has created an IoT concept for motors. This allows users to transfer data such as the operating and status parameters of low-voltage motors to MindSphere.

Based on this data, the Simotics IQ MindApp delivers valuable analytical results and is able to provide useful information such as recommended actions for the timely planning of maintenance work, or rapid response warnings to prevent costly plant standstill.

The transparency gained in this way helps enhance efficiency and increase productivity.

The new generation of Simotics SD motors will be the first to benefit from Simotics IQ.

Illustrating the convergence between the virtual and the real production worlds at the fair is an exhibit featuring a high-performance filling and sealing machine for the pharmaceutical industry built by Bausch + Ströbel.

This company plans to use integrated hardware and software solutions from Siemens to achieve a 30 percent improvement of its engineering efficiency by 2020 by consistently applying digitalisation across its entire value chain – from design and layout, simulation and optimisation in the in-house virtualisation center, all the way to commissioning and service.

Study affirms annual productivity increase due to digitalisation of up to 9.8 percent

Manufacturing companies around the world are facing the challenge of financing the digital transformation, in some cases involving significant investment.

According to the paper, manufacturers can generate an annual increase in productivity through decreased manufacturing costs adding up to as much as 9.8 percent of total revenue.

This is achieved by automating and digitalising their production systems and so improving manufacturing productivity.

Companies can use this released liquidity to invest in other areas such as new technologies and also to finance them over time.

Under its “Financing 4.0” scheme, SFS offers tailored pay-per-use models and financing for software solutions that allow companies to make the long-term transition to new-generation digital technologies.